IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, laureate, horned, draped bust right // INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG, Elagabalus standing left, holding patera, sacrificing over altar and holding club upright, bull lying down behind altar; star in field.  18mm, 3.00 grams. Rome mint, minted 221 CE. RIC 88; Sear 2518; RSC 61.

Elagabalus (203–222 CE), born Varius Avitus Bassianus, was a teenage Roman emperor of the Severan dynasty whose eccentric and controversial reign (218–222) made him one of antiquity’s most notorious rulers. Elevated to the throne through a coup engineered by his powerful grandmother Julia Maesa, he attempted to impose the worship of his Syrian sun god, Elagabal, on Rome, shocking traditional elites. His rule was marked by religious upheaval, lavish extravagance, erratic behavior, and rapid turnover of officials, which alienated the Praetorian Guard and the Senate. In 222, the guard assassinated him and replaced him with his cousin Severus Alexander. Though ancient sources are hostile and often sensationalized, Elagabalus remains remembered as a flamboyant and disruptive figure whose short reign symbolized the instability of the late Severan era.